Soul searching wasn’t on the Minnesota Lynx’s to-do list in preparation for the WNBA playoffs. It is now.

With the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference playoffs secured and two regular-season games remaining, it would seem an optimal time for the Lynx to rest starters and fine-tune game plans. Instead, they will be digging deep to fix an attack that coughed and sputtered like an old jalopy and plug a defense that was sieve-like in a 71-63 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday night in front of 9,132 at Target Center.

“We have to fix it,” Lynx point guard Lindsay Whalen said. “That’s the only thing we can do. Everyone should be thinking about what they can do better.”

Maya Moore was Minnesota’s lone bright spot with 20 points. She was the only Lynx player to score in double figures, a rarity in a starting lineup filled with all-stars. In a season already studded with milestones, Moore notched another in becoming Minnesota’s single-season franchise scoring leader. She needed 17 points entering the game to top the record of 769 points scored by Seimone Augustus in 2007.

Her feat was of little consolation.

“This is a concerning-type of performance at any point of the season,” she said. “It is something that is just so disappointing. We are in control of how we play. We will put it together. We have to work toward that. It is not like us (to play this way), which is a good thing, because we know who we can be and who we want to be.”

Since winning 11 in a row and playing like the Lynx teams that have won two of the past three WNBA championships, Minnesota (24-8) has lost two consecutive. The Lynx had a chance to move to within a half-game of first-place Phoenix late Saturday night, but the Mercury’s Diana Taurasi hit a late shot to essentially prevent the Lynx from winning their fourth consecutive Western Conference crown.

Phoenix (27-4) on Tuesday clinched the top seed in the Western Conference and home court advantage throughout the playoffs with a victory over the New York Liberty while the Lynx were turning in an uneven performance against the Sparks (15-17), who clinched a playoff spot of their own.

Minnesota had no defensive answer for the Sparks’ Kristi Toliver, who matched a career high with 29 points. Candace Parker scored 16 points and Alana Beard added 10.

“This is a disappointing trend for us; it’s the second game in a row with five minutes to go, that we didn’t make plays, whether it was we didn’t score a basket or get back and play hard enough defense to make the team earn a win in our house,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said.

“I’m disappointed in that, disappointed that we let a player go off to have 29 points and not be pressed up on her to make her earn it. (It’s) not the way we want to play at home. We’re disappointed.”

It was the first victory for Los Angeles at Target Center in two years.

The Lynx could very well see Toliver and her teammates again on Aug. 21 when the playoffs begin. If the Sparks maintain the No. 3 seed, they will open at Minnesota in a best-of-three series. San Antonio (14-17), Minnesota’s opponent on Friday in Texas, holds the No. 4 spot and would open at Phoenix.

Moore, who hurt her ankle in the first minute after getting tangled with Beard, scored eight points in the first half and had eight in a third-quarter run that gave the Lynx 51-49 lead with a quarter to go. Moore, who had a one-handed left-handed layin to set the scoring mark, scored her final basket on a 16-foot jumper with two minutes left to give the Lynx a 63-62 lead.

Los Angeles responded with a 9-0 run to close out the game.

“Maya was the only one that was producing offense; that was the problem,” Reeve said.

“It wasn’t our most fluid offensive game, for sure,” Moore said. “For whatever reason, the ball got stuck now and then. We are great when we are moving it. In the second half, we lost our flow. We have to get that back.”

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